Luck of the Draw
by Kirii
Summary: As a pirate, Rould was a gambling man and it was a great gamble one night when a young man named Lumaria was at stake in a final round. Would Lady Luck smile upon him as she often did or would the luck of the draw be against him? [Pastlife!LuxordMarluxia]


_**Author's Notes:**__ I know. This is an odd pairing, but I find myself rather fond of it. I have no idea why, though. I can just see them working well together, but I have no explanation of __**why**__. Unlike with Zexion/Demyx, there is no way to explain myself; I just like this pairing. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be very many other fans of this pairing, which makes me a bit sad, but won't stop me. I __**have**__ to write it; the idea won't get out of my head.  
__**Warnings:**__ Odd pairing, strange circumstances. Gambling, with some stakes that would be considered highly illegal these days, but would be fine in Port Royal. Also, this is a yaoi fic. Don't like it? Don't read it.  
__**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Pirates of the Caribbean; I cannot take credit for any of the characters except for those that I make up. The idea for where Rould and Lumaria come from is mine in this case, but pretty much nothing else can be claimed by me._

Chapter One

Rould had always been a bit of a gambler. When he was younger and living in England, he would always make bets with the other young lads that he could usually be found with. He'd bet them out of their pocket money, bluffing his way out of tight spots and sometimes even cheating to win. Lady Luck smiled upon him more often than not and he often won without even the slightest bit of deceit. It seemed to everyone around him that there was no winning against the man; he was obviously Luck's favorite while his opponent was Misfortune's current play-thing.

It should come as no surprise that, as a grown man in the Caribbean, Rould's favorite place to be was the pirate port of Tortuga. The port was, in every aspect, the best place to gamble the clothes off some poor unfortunate soul's back. The city of pirates was the very place where Rould could find someone brave or stupid enough to challenge him. On occasion, he even found himself a worthy opponent to properly face him in a long game of dice or poker. Tortuga was the one place where he could find a challenge.

Needless to say, he was currently sitting at a table in the far back of one of the many local taverns, five cards in hand and a mug of Dirty Harry's best rum on the table next to his growing pile of winnings. The man across from him had a pile of winnings almost half the size of his own. It was a most entertaining battle of bluffs; both Rould and his opponent, Mathias, had lasted far into the game, each winning a good number of hands. It would be obvious to any outsider that the both of them had been cheating thus far, but it would matter little; in Tortuga, _everyone_ cheated at cards.

"What say you to upping the wager?" Rould asked, confidently slipping a small pile of gold pieces into the betting pool.

"Not a bad idea there," Mathias replied. His dirt-covered hand pushed a pile of gold forward. "Raisin' twenny pieces."

"Call."

The both of them showed their hands and Rould gave a triumphant smirk when it was revealed that he had won that hand. Gathering all the cards towards him, he stacked them neatly, then cut and shuffled the deck. The game continued. Gold pieces were thrown into the betting pool, cards swapped for new ones, from the deck or otherwise. Three more hands were played before Mathias ran out of coins.

"Looks to me you've lost, my friend," the blond man said, pulling the pile of coins from the betting pool towards him. "Good game."

"Wait," the other man said. He raised one hand and snapped his fingers. "This 'ere game ain't over yet."

A couple men behind Mathias approached, pulling with them a third person, a young man by the looks of him. Cobalt blue eyes were narrowed in anger from beneath long, deep auburn bangs as the young man's wrists struggled to free themselves from the shackles that bound him. The two crewmen shoved him forward and he stumbled into the table.

"Found 'im floatin' on the waters near a shipwreck," Mathias explained, grinning madly. "Beautiful piece o' work, 'e is. You win this 'ere round, you can 'ave 'im."

Rould looked over at the young man sprawled over the table. The young man growled in irritation and pushed himself up, only to be restrained by one of Mathias' crewmen, whose large hand gripped tightly to the man's shoulder. Rould's eyes focused on the young man's face for a moment while he made his decision. Mathias had been correct; the young man was a 'beautiful piece of work' indeed. Beauty that hid a cruel tongue as the young man swore vehemently, alternating between English and a very elegant strand of French.

"You will pay for this!" he swore. His voice had a more restrained accent than Rould would have guessed, but it was still apparent.

"Shut your mouth, pretty boy!" Mathias' crewman commanded, raising a hand in warning.

"Marcus!" Mathias barked. "You will no' lay a 'and on 'im!"

Rould watched the young man for a moment longer before reaching for the deck. "I'll take the wager," he said, beginning to shuffle the cards.

Mathias grinned at him, baring his blackened and broken teeth. "There's a lad. Now. What will you be givin' me if I win?"

"All my winnings," Rould replied. "Seems a fair wager."

"That it does," Mathias said, taking his cards from Rould. He gestured to one of his men and the man came forward, putting a bag of silver coins on the table. "We use these 'ere coins to play. Three 'ands, Rould."

"Fine."

"Then let the game begin," Mathias said.

Rould nodded, lifting the golden coin that hung from his neck on a string of leather to lips and kissing it, calling to his Lady Luck to smile down on him in this game. Though he didn't care for the young man, a complete stranger, knowledge of what Mathias' crew did to pretty boys that found their way onto their ship made Rould want to keep the French man out of their hands. No man deserved the humiliation of that crew's interests. He couldn't just let Mathias keep the lad.

Looking down at his cards, Rould studied them for a moment. His eyes flicked up at Mathias, watching for any hint of what kind of hand that the older pirate might have. Unlike many of his usual opponents, Mathias was difficult to read. That's why Rould liked to play him; it presented such a challenge. This was when it mattered though, since Rould couldn't let the young French man suffer at the hands of Mathias and his crew.

"I'll start with two pieces of silver," Rould said. He put out the two pieces in the center of the table.

"I raise five pieces," Mathias replied, pushing forward the five promised pieces.

Rould looked back down at his cards. It wasn't the best of hands, but it was workable. Carefully, he pulled the three of diamonds that was the most threatening card in the hand down into the palm of his hand. From there, he let it slide into his sleeve. With that card gone, he was safe to pull another card from his stash of good cards. He knew that Mathias was doing the same thing with his hand; Mathias' cheating was nowhere near as subtle as Rould's own. Rould pulled out a card and added it to his hand carefully.

The round continued for a few long minutes as the two men watched each other for signs of what the other had in his hand. They turned in old cards for new, raised, and called, ready to see whose cards won. Rould showed no disappointment when the hand was won by Mathias; he still had two hands left to play, after all. He took all the cards, shuffled the deck and dealt for the next hand.

The second hand was won by Rould, beating Mathias' three-of-a-kind queens with a straight. Playing with Mathias, there was so little Rould could do to tell what the older pirate had; he was a master when it came to bluffing. Luckily, the Englishman was just as good, otherwise he'd have lost long ago. As it stood, Rould was one of the best players in Tortuga.

Finally, it all came down to this one last hand. After shuffling and dealing the cards, Rould took a look at his hand; of course, he'd have a difficult hand, one hard to work with. He could only hope that Mathias' hand was worse. Calmly, not showing even the slightest hint that he might have a bad hand, Rould pushed forward ten of the silver coins to start the wager. He let his eyes wander over to the auburn-haired French man that he was playing to win.

Cold cobalt eyes looked back at him; the French man obviously didn't want to be anyone's property, even if it was someone that wasn't part of Mathias' crew. Rould noticed now some bruising on the young man's neck, as if someone had attempted to strangle him, and he couldn't help but wonder which one of Mathias' crew had been responsible for that. He looked over the young man, checking his stance and build; judging by the obvious pride that he had, the man was of noble background.

_Poor bastard,_ Rould thought. _It was probably Mathias who destroyed his ship to begin with. Ol' Mathias always had an eye for the young and rich._

Looking back down to his cards, Rould began switching out his cards carefully. He had to be sure that he won this round or he'd lose for sure; not only the match, but a great amount of his reputation, as well. He knew that Mathias would be doing his damnedest to be sure that he won and kept his prize, so he had to do the same. He couldn't risk playing anything but an astounding hand.

After fresh cards were dealt, Rould looked at his new hand; it was better than his starting hand, but it could still use a little help from his hidden stash. He pulled a card, a ten of spades, from his sleeve and added it to his hand, taking away the useless five of hearts and sliding it into his other sleeve. Just one more card and he'd have a royal flush. However, the odds of that happening were so slim that it would be up to the luck of the draw when he pulled the last card from his sleeve.

"I raise," Rould said. He picked up a small handful of coins and let them drop into the center of the table. "Ten pieces."

"I call," Mathias replied.

Rould cursed inwardly. If Mathias called, that meant that he was confident of winning the hand. He barely managed to keep his face clear of anything that would give away his anger at Mathias' call as he made one last attempt to pull out the card he needed to win this hand. He needed to get that card in his hand before he set all his cards on the table for Mathias to see.

"Show yer cards, Rould," Mathias commanded, his own hand already on the table to show four jacks. "Time's come to see who Lady Luck favors."

Rould, without looking to see what card he had pulled from his sleeve, set his hand on the table. Only then did he look down to see what his hand was. To his surprise, he hadn't pulled the ace of spades, but instead the _nine_ of spades; while he had no royal flush, he still won with a straight flush. A smirk appeared on Rould's lips as he looked up to meet Mathias' eyes.

"Seems that Lady Luck favors a gent like I," Rould said. He stood, picking up the bag of gold he'd won in the beginning of the game. "I shall be claiming my prize, then, Mathias."

"Tch, take 'im," Mathias growled, angry with the fact that he'd lost; he'd been counting on those four jacks to keep the French lad his prisoner. He gestured for Marcus to toss Rould the keys that unlocked the shackles on the lad's wrists. "You 'aven't won yer last game agains' me, Rould."

"We'll see about that," Rould replied, catching the keys. He then caught the Frenchman as Marcus shoved him forward. "My men and I are leaving port tonight, so we'll who's the better player when we next meet. 'Til then, Mathias!"

With that, Rould led his newly-obtained shipmate towards the docks.

* * *

"Jim, go into the pub and get rum for the lot of us," Rould told his cabin boy. "We're drinking tonight!"

"There an occasion, Captain?" Silas, Rould's first-mate, asked.

Rould pulled the French lad up the ramp and aboard the ship, the _High Stakes_. "We got ourselves a new shipmate."

The young man pulled back, trying to get Rould to let go of him. "Unhand me, pirate!" he hissed. "I will have naught to do with swine like yourself!"

Rould's crew laughed. Rould laughed along with them for a moment before stopping and looking at the young man. "What choice do you have, mate? I won you."

"I am not some trinket to win!" the young man retorted.

Rould put his forefingers to his temples. "The least you could do is appreciate that I got you away from Mathias and his crew. You have any idea what they do to pretty boys like you, princess?"

"P-Princess?" The man's cobalt blue eyes widened as his lips stumbled over the insult. He clenched his fists in their shackles. "I _have_ a _name_! Don't insult me with a woman's title!"

"If you have a name, I'd gladly hear it," Rould said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking the French lad in the eyes.

"It's Lumaria, of Bordeaux," the lad replied. "And I insist that you take me to Port Royal so that I may find a ship to take me back to France!"

Rould laughed again. "You're joking, right? A pirate ship dock at Port Royal? You'd have more luck heading there in a rowboat!"

Lumaria glowered at Rould. "Take me to Port Royal and they can hang you once I get off this ship."

"It's not happening, mate. You might as well get comfortable on this ship." Rould turned to Silas. "Silas, find the lad a place to sleep and something to do to earn room and board."

"Aye, Captain."

"Wait just one moment!" Lumaria exclaimed. "I'm not lowering myself to your standards! Take me to Port Royal, this instant!"

Rould waved Lumaria's demand off, turning to head to his cabin to work out where they would go. "I already told you that I cannot. Deal with the situation you've found yourself in, lad."

"Captain," Silas spoke up. "The shackles on 'im?"

Rould turned to look at Lumaria. "Keep 'em on him until he learns to behave. I can't have him causing trouble on my ship."

"Aye, Captain," Silas replied. He grabbed Lumaria by the arm and began to pull him over to the stairwell that lead below deck.

Lumaria, however, would not make it easy. He struggled, cursing at Rould, once again alternating between English and French. The Frenchman wanted nothing more than to pull away from Silas and give Rould what was coming to him. He wanted to get away from these pirates and find a ship that could return him to his home. Silas had a good grip on him, having built up strength working on the _High Stakes_ and sparring with his crewmates when things got too quiet. There was little chance of getting away from him.

"Unhand me!" Lumaria demanded as Silas continued to pull him down into the lower cabins of the ship.

"Good bit of luck you'd 'ave if I did," Silas said. He shoved Lumaria into the cabin and blocked the exit with his body. "Captain says you'll be staying 'ere for the time being, lad. We'll find a use for you in the mornin'."

"You son-of-a-bitch!" Lumaria spat.

Silas laughed. "Y'know, I've been called worse."

With that, Silas moved and shut the cabin door, locking it behind him so Lumaria couldn't get away. Having done that, he headed back onto the deck to join in the drinking. Lumaria, cursing vehemently at being locked up like a slave, kicked a few things around in his anger before taking a seat on the small cot in the corner. From this spot, he could hear the pirates singing loud, brash songs, with their captain's voice rising above them all.

"Drink up me hearties, yo ho!"


End file.
